Disadvantaged Business Program Restricted By Constitutional Suit

A district court held Monday that the Transportation Department’s program assisting certain minority- and women-owned businesses must be temporarily limited due to constitutional concerns.

The US Department of Transportation is enjoined from conducting its Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program on contracts bid upon by two suing companies in Kentucky or Indiana, according to an order granting a preliminary injunction in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove said Mid-America Milling Co. and Bagshaw Trucking Inc. are likely to win on their merits that the program violates the US Constitution’s Equal Protections clause.

“Because ...